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During the past 20 years, the author has watch China move from being a developing country into an industrial superpower
Money Moves, 5/24: Chocomize Co-Founder Fabian Kaempfer talks with Bloomberg’s Deirdre Bolton about the business of customizing chocolate
The president's campaign has a new rule—no cell phones allowed
In honor of remote control inventor Eugene Polley, we recognize other influential but neglected inventors who have felt the sting of stolen glory
Forget Adderall. Traders now pop chia seeds to stay focused and energized
The Italian automaker and others are adding hybrid technology to elite cars
The storied bridge that links San Francisco and Marin County changed the face of California
Schools cultivate ties with startups before they're big successes
Dave McClure's traveling venture capital show scours the world for promising startups
Get Four
|  | DECEMBER 10, 2003
By Thane Peterson A Holiday Break from Boring Gifts [Page 2 of 2] Tchotchkes from Reuben Belew Studio ($10 and up): The Reuben Belew Studio is a tiny storefront at 28 Jane St. in Manhattan's West Village. Proprietor Anita Belew mainly makes architectural ceramics there, but she also has a retail store that sells gifts that she and various friends and students have made by hand. Some, such as a tile-topped coffee table for $850, are expensive, but you'll also find many inexpensive stocking-stuffer-type gifts. Among my favorites are hand-painted ceramic Christmas scenes for $60, mistletoe tiles for $26, refrigerator magnets for $10, and beautiful ceramic switch plates to replace the ugly plastic ones over the light switches on your walls ($35-$55). One for a child's bedroom has a blue seahorse clinging to it. I'm taking a class from Belew and have seen some of these things being made. I can testify that the effort that goes into these creations makes the prices a bargain. Mystery Books by Henning Mankell (Vintage Crime/Black Lizard, $13 each in paperback): No holiday is complete without a good mystery for when you aren't busy shopping or digesting food. My current favorite mystery writer is Mankell, a Swede. Kurt Wallender, the books' hero, is a moody, middle-age detective in a small Swedish town who, improbably, gets caught up in all sorts of international intrigue. Mankell spends part of each year in Mozambique, so his stories also often have African connections. The Wallender mysteries are full of dyspeptic commentary on the decline of Swedish society that appeals to my Scandinavian-American way of looking at things. Mankell, however, seems likely to gain a much broader audience soon because he was recently written up favorably in The New York Times. My only regret is that in the last year I've read all of the half-dozen Wallender books, so I have no new one to devour over the holidays. Smoked Ham from Father's Country Hams ($50 or so): I wouldn't want to start a fight by suggesting that Father's, out of Bremen, Ky., (877 525-4267) makes the best country ham in America -- but it's gotta rank right up there. This is old-timey ham, hickory smoked and aged for nine months, and it has a strong taste that city slickers weaned on heavily processed low-fat foods may not appreciate. But if you like country cooking, this is the genuine article. A 16-pound whole ham will set you back a little over $50, with shipping and handling. Father's also sells sliced ham, hickory-smoked bacon and cheese, biscuit mix, barbecue rubs, and various other down-home delicacies. Lee Bontecou: A Retropective (Abram's, $45): Bontecou is one of the greatest living American artists -- and one of the least known. That's because, three decades ago, just as she was becoming famous, she retired to rural Pennsylvania and stopped showing her work. Most art experts thought she had died or stopped creating, but in fact she has been quietly working away, supporting herself by teaching art classes in Brooklyn. She was rediscovered in 2003, when she agreed to a retrospective of her career, which is up at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles until Jan. 11. Now she's red-hot: One of her canvas-and-metal constructions sold for $456,000 at a Sotheby's auction on Nov. 12, 10 times the her previous record. This book is a wonderful introduction to her work if you can't see the exhibit, which moves on to Chicago and New York in 2004. Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues (HarperCollins, $27.95): The hottest coffee table book of the season is probably According to the Rolling Stones (Chronicle, $40), in which the members of the rock group ruminate on their careers and influences. That book is fine as far as it goes, but if you really want to know where the Stones came from, check out Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues. It gives the lowdown on the African-American blues players who originally inspired Mick Jagger, Charlie Watts, and Keith Richards to make music -- people like Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, Son House, and Robert Johnson. The book is a companion to the PBS TV series on the blues that first aired in September. It features essays by film directors who appeared in the documentary, including Scorsese, Clint Eastwood, Mike Figgis, and Germany's Wim Wenders. You can also buy companion CDs featuring the music of key players. Listen to these laments, and your own post-holiday blues will soon fade into insignificance by comparison.
 Peterson is a contributing editor at BusinessWeek Online. Follow his weekly Moveable Feast column, only on BusinessWeek Online Edited by Beth Belton Get BusinessWeek directly on your desktop with our RSS feeds.  Add BusinessWeek news to your Web site with our headline feed. Click to buy an e-print or reprint of a BusinessWeek or BusinessWeek Online story or video. To subscribe online to BusinessWeek magazine, please click here. Learn more, go to the BusinessWeekOnline home page  | | |
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